Parents unite to fight teenage prostitution in Jigawa

September 11, 2006 :: Hassan A. Karofi Daily Trust ,Abuja

The growing number of prostitutes that have led to an increase in brothel business is becoming a source of concern to parents in Jigawa state, according to Pyramid Trust investigations.

Statistics have shown that the number of brothels in Dutse, the state capital, has outnumbered real hospitality industries as a result of increase in prostitutes coming into the city.

According to a group known as Concerned Morals for Nigerian Youths, the growing cases of teenage pregnancy, frequent rape cases as well as booming prostitution business have led to increased spread of HIV/AIDS in the state.

Pyramid Trust quotes the state's deputy governor, Ibrahim Hassan Hadejia, who is also the state's chairman of the state's action committee on HIV/AIDS, as saying during a campaign on the AIDS scourge that the number of HIV/AIDS victims in the state was shocking.

The group's coordinator, Malam Nasiru Kasim Malam-adori, told Pyramid Trust that concerns over the number of cases of HIV/AIDS inf ections forced the group to seek intervention through parental campaign and coordinated community visits.

He said the increasing street hawking, school age drop-out syndrome and the number of brothels continuously being operated anywhere in the state capital had jeopardized child's moral upbringing, corrupted youth's mind as well as endangered their proper upbringing in the state. He therefore called on the government to intensify campaign against child hawking and brazen opening of brothels.

It would be recalled that last month during the state's civil service celebration, the state government was urged by some concerned workers to establish a civil service HIV/AIDS awareness committee because of the growing cases of HIV/AIDS victims and infections among civil servants in the state.

Meanwhile, the Department for International Development, DFID, under its access to justice programme had established a community women's law centre to carter for the continuing rise in women and children abuses. The centre receives complains on any child abuse, domestic violence as well as any related abuse against vulnerable groups in the society.